Warner Bros. Discovery’s games division is getting ready to publish its new licensed fighter game MultiVersus on May 28 as part of a strategic shift to pad its portfolio with more live-service titles (which are regularly refreshed with new content, characters, settings, etc.). 

Developed by LA’s Player First Games, this free-to-play concept for tweens teleports characters from iconic WBD franchises into themed game arenas to battle for victory. MultiVersus will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S consoles with more than 23 playable characters, including Batman, Shaggy, Bugs Bunny, The Iron Giant and Space Jam‘s LeBron James. The developer will also continue to support the game with new character rollouts in future updates. 

WB Games initially launched an open-beta version of MultiVersus in 2022, and more than 20 million players tried the title out within the first month. The beta went offline last year in order to give Player First Games time to polish and upgrade the experience with additional fighters, stages and modes before the full launch in May. 

The division is shifting away from developing AAA-budget titles (which start at US$50 million) in order to better navigate volatility in the gaming market, said global streaming and games CEO and president Jean-Briac Perrette at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference last week. Its new strategy focuses on expanding more core franchises into lower-cost live service, mobile and free-to-play games, so that WBD can continue to invest in successful titles that attract the kind of players who are able to spend more money over time through microtransactions. 

WBD’s games library includes licensed Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy—which it claims was the top-selling game worldwide last year with more than 22 million copies sold.